The third week is almost over! Where has the time gone?

The last weekend was great! I decided that I could need a day off on Saturday, so I just chilled in the sun and read a book about talent management. Very useful! Sunday we went on a tour through Nairobi (and some super rich suburbs) to visit some animals. The tour started with a visit to orphan elephants. The baby elephants were given some milk, were washed and spilled over with some mud. Really cute entertainment. We went on to the giraffes. When we climbed a small tower, we stood eye in eye with a beautiful giraffe! The guide showed us how to make the giraffe cuddle with us (distract it with some food and lay your other arm around it) - worked out perfectly! It was so great to be that close to those lovely animals. And giraffes (ok, together with pumbas) are my favorite safari animals (I even bought a little giraffe figure for the living room ;)). Meanwhile we were getting hungry, so we moved on to Mamba village, where we wanted to see some reptiles. We were treating ourselves with a nice chicken burger and some milk shakes. What a nice variation! We saw some huge and small crocodiles, and were even allowed to hold a small one. It felt really nice! We also grabbed a baby turtle which was soooo cute and a huge, very heavy turtle. Must be really frustrating to be captured in this shell for such a long life time....

Our final stop was a huge tower in Nairobi where we could enjoy an incredible view over the city. We topped off this day with a really nice cake in an almost Starbucks-like café, and were brought home by our drivers.

The last working days went well! With a lot of repetition and patience I see that the students understand what I'm trying to convey ;) I had an appointment with the English teacher on Monday, but we missed each other. The appointment was about the English exam for our 11th-graders on Monday, 3rd November. I know that the students will all write the end-of-the-year exams shortly, but should I really be the one preparing them for this important examination? Apparently. So on Wednesday (yesterday) I learned that I even have to prepare the exam. I! have to prepare the exam :D So that's what I did today. Thanks to my favorite internet café, some previous German "Abitur" exams, and my own creativity, I pieced some questions together, which will hopefully be good enough for this 4 1/2h exam. Proud of myself!

I also mastered another challenge today. Getting my clothes washed. Yes, that is a really challenge here. We do have the possibility to wash our clothes by hand - by hand - in a rain water basket. But no, thanks, I do not want to share my bacteria with the other 8 volunteers, and I also don't want to get their "mushrooms" ;). So I asked some people where I could find a laundry service. One really nice woman showed me the way to a professional dry cleaning shop. Hoever, they did not want to wash my underwear (which is the most in need to get properly cleaned), because there were just men working with the washing machines, and they apparently don't want to get in contact with women's underwear. Hearing my troubles, a man (Steven) came to me and offered to show me another laundry service. I know I shouldn't be talking to strangers, but I was really desperate to get my stuff washed. And my trust in people got rewarded. He lead me to a salon where they would wash everythinh, including my intimate pieces. Even though I pay about 10€ to get 36 pieces washed, dried and ironed (hope he won't iron my BH....) I'll be able to step into my clothes again with a nice feeling. Steven even wanted to bring me back to my house, so I told him I have a boyfriend, which most of the Kenyan men understand. So we gave each other a friendly handshake and I went home, totally in ease with myself and my successful productive day.

Finally an update on the fundraising: You already spent 390€! That's incredible! Just 30€ left to reach the aim! Would be great if we could even exceed the amount aimed at. I am, and the school is, very thankful for this huge support. Yesterday I handed over the first 100€. Foto's from the bought supplies will follow soon!